Tag: Gregory Rodrigues

USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Feb. 13: ‘Robocop’ Gregory Rodrigues making noise at middleweight

Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following UFC 297 in Toronto.

The UFC’s Apex events typically do not involve a lot of ranked fighters these days, but there were a few movements after last week’s event.

UFC Fight Night 236 was headlined by a middleweight bout between Jack Hermansson and Joe Pyfer. Entering the event, Hermansson held the No. 15 spot, and remains in place after picking up a win over the unranked Pyfer.

On the undercard, [autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] turned in an impressive performance, stopping Brad Tavares in the third round. “Robocop” takes an honorable mention slot in this week’s update.

At strawweight, [autotag]Loma Lookboonmee[/autotag] defeated Bruna Brasil, rising up from the honorable mentions to claim the No. 15 spot.

Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

Gregory Rodrigues focused on making run for UFC middleweight title: ‘I want to be the king of this division’

Gregory Rodrigues feels he’s en route to the UFC middleweight title.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] thinks he’s entering a new phase in his career, and one that can take him all the way to the UFC title.

Rodrigues (15-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) picked up a third-round TKO win over longtime contender Brad Tavares (20-9 MMA, 15-9 UFC) on the UFC Fight Night 236 main card Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It was his second straight victory and likely the biggest name he’s beaten so far in his three years with the UFC.

The Brazilian is unsure what will come next, but he expects for it to be a big opportunity.

“If you see the way Dricus Du Plessis did, he started with Brad, and he did his job to get to the title,” Rodrigues told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 236 post-fight press conference. “I don’t know what the UFC is going to offer me, but I’m happy with everything they do, and they do a good job, but I already showed I belong at the top.

“My goal is to be the champion of this division. I want to be the king of this division. I’m going to take my time, and I believe the UFC already sees that, and they’re going to offer me good things.”

Rodrigues didn’t call anyone out specifically, and said he trusts the UFC will give him a jump up in competition.

As far as the win itself, Rodrigues thinks he’s reaching certain levels in his fighting career that he hasn’t reached before.

“In eight fights, I saw how I improved myself inside the octagon,” Rodrigues said. “”I feel comfortable when I’m inside that cage, and especially when I fight guys like Brad, who have a lot of experience. A fight is a fight. Numbers and experience – of course he can use that. But that’s not everything, and I see more of myself putting me in a good position right now. I’m so grateful.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.

UFC Fight Night 236 post-event facts: Rodolfo Vieira claims record with another arm-triangle choke

Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 236, which saw Rodolfo Vieira become the all-time octagon leader in arm-triangle choke wins.

The UFC’s lengthy stretch of events rolled on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 236 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

[autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag] (24-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) emerged victorious in the main event when he scored an upset of [autotag]Joe Pyfer[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) by unanimous decision in their middleweight bout.

For more on the numbers from the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 236.

UFC Fight Night 236 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Multiple veterans net max non-title money

UFC Fight Night 236 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 236 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $236,500.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC Fight Night 236 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 236 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Joe Pyfer[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Robert Bryczek[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ihor Potieria[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Michael Johnson[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Darrius Flowers[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Rodolfo Vieira[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Armen Petrosyan[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Carlos Prates[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Trevin Giles[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Bolaji Oki[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tim Cuamba[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Loma Lookboonmee[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Bruna Brasil[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Marcin Prachnio[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Devin Clark[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Max Griffin[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Jeremiah Wells[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Bogdan Guskov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Zac Pauga[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Hyder Amil[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Fernie Garcia[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag]: $4,000
vs. [autotag]Aori Qileng[/autotag]: $6,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2361 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $850,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $23,557,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.

UFC Fight Night 236 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC Fight Night 236 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.

LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 236 took place Saturday with 14 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

You can hear from all the UFC Fight Night 236 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.

Gregory Rodrigues: Brad Tavares ‘has a lot of experience, but I believe his time is gone’

Gregory Rodrigues is ready to springboard his career off of Brad Tavares.

[autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] is ready to springboard his career off of [autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag].

Rodrigues (14-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) meets Tavares (20-8 MMA, 15-8 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 236 (ESPN+) main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Tavares, a perennial middleweight contender, has fought just about every notable name, from former champions Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker and Chris Weidman to current champion Dricus Du Plessis. Rodrigues thinks beating someone like Tavares could be his ticket to a big fight.

“Brad fought maybe everyone in the division,” Rodrigues said at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 236 media day. “He has a lot of experience, but I believe his time is gone and now is my time. I’m ready for this.

“And if you see so many of the guys that fought him and beat him, they fought against someone at the top. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, if they’re going to offer me, but I believe it’s going to be one good step in my career.”

Rodrigues wanting to fight top-level competition is more of a desire than a demand. He’s willing to put in the necessary work to get there.

“I’m not going to rush,” Rodrigues said. “I don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, I need that.’ I want to do what I need to do. My plan is two more fights this year – maybe in the middle of the year and the end of the year. I believe I will finish this year on top of the contenders and my goal is to be a champion. I’m looking up, and I will take my time – but I will climb that.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Nov. 13-19)

All the UFC fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Nov. 13-19.

Gregory Rodrigues to meet Brad Tavares in middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 10

A middleweight banger between Gregory Rodrigues and Brad Tavares is headed to the UFC octagon early next year.

A middleweight banger is headed to the octagon early next year.

[autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] announced Wednesday on Instagram that he will fight [autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag] on Feb. 10 at a UFC Fight Night. Although the UFC hasn’t made an official announcement, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie.

Rodrigues (14-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC), affectionately known as “Robocop,” has won three of his past four bouts, most recently defeating Denis Tiuliulin by first-round TKO this past August at UFC 292. The result got Rodrigues back in the win column after he was knocked out by Brunno Ferreira in his previous bout.

Tavares (20-8 MMA, 15-8 UFC) snapped a two-fight skid in his last outing when he beat former UFC champion Chris Weidman by unanimous decision at UFC 292. Prior to that, Tavares had lost back-to-back bouts to Dricus Du Plessis by decision and Bruno Silva by first-round TKO.

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UFC 292 winner Gregory Rodrigues insists he didn’t illegally hit Denis Tiuliulin on back of head

Gregory Rodrigues insists his finish of Denis Tiuliulin was clean and legal at UFC 292.

BOSTON – [autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] denies hitting [autotag]Denis Tiuliulin[/autotag] on the back of the head.

Rodrigues (14-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) smashed Tiuliulin (11-8 MMA, 1-3 UFC) with vicious elbows on the ground in their middleweight matchup this past Saturday at UFC 292 – one of them which appeared to land on the back of Tiuliulin’s head.

The apparent illegal blow is what led to the fight-ending sequence as Rodrigues needed just one more strike to knock out Tiuliulin in Round 1 at TD Garden. But Rodrigues says he did not hit Tiuliulin on the back of the head.

“I didn’t hit that,” Rodrigues told reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage at TD Garden. “I knew what I was doing there. It was right behind the ear. He was on the side, so how am I going to hit the head if he was on the side? If you guys saw the video, I landed one and he turned, and then I stopped it.

“Then I felt (he went) weak and dizzy, and then I landed the other one. But it was right on the side (of the head) and then the ref came and stopped the fight. I hit him like two or three times, and that was all that was necessary for him to stop the fight, but I didn’t at all hit in the back of the head.”

Rodrigues is open to rebooking his scrapped UFC 283 bout with Brad Tavares (20-9 MMA, 15-8 UFC), who was also victorious this past Saturday when he defeated the returning former champion Chris Weidman.

“Oh yeah, Brad Tavares just won,” Rodrigues said. “If he wants to fight, man, I’m ready for December. Let’s go. December I want go go back, and Brad Tavares is a great name for me.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.

UFC 292 post-event facts: Ian Machado Garry enters record book with 6-0 octagon start

The best facts to come out of UFC 292, which saw Sean O’Malley, Zhang Weili, Ian Machado Garry and others record statistical achievements.

One of the biggest UFC events of the year thus far went down Saturday with UFC 292, which took place at TD Garden in Boston and featured two championship fights with different results.

In the main event, [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) shocked [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) with a second-round TKO to capture the bantamweight belt, while in the co-headliner, [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] (24-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) got her second strawweight title reign off a dominant start with a lopsided unanimous decision over Brazilian challenger [autotag]Amanda Lemos[/autotag] (13-3-1 MMA, 7-3 UFC).

For more on the numbers behind the two championship bouts, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 292.